After being here in China (Suzhou) for three months, my family and I have had several ups and downs and I thought we were starting to 'be ok'. But now, we are running into problems all at once, such as, we just found out that our newly found Ayi has Hepatitis B, so we had to let her go. Uggh, it took forever to even find that one. Now my husband and I are back to the problem of never being able to have a few hours out by ourselves. Just the fact that the Ayi did not speak any english and was fairly new at being an Ayi for a family always kept me a bit nervous.
And just today, I found out that there were a couple of mornings when the Ayi took my young son out to the kindergarten van, some 'men' would come up and take pictures of my son with their cell phones. I have been told that, however not common, it could be a perfect setup for a kidnapping. Especially since those type of people really take notice to a 'daily set schedule' of an expat. I now feel like I have been ignorant in ever putting so much trust into this place and feel like I need to stay very close to our apartment, and Not take our children into crowded areas.
If the lack of sanitary practices don't get you, then the bad guys will, is how I'm feeling.
Now what ? We still have 16 months to go here !!?? Any words of wisdom or ideas ? Im at wits end.
signed, Worry Mother

hey denise i'm jason, an expat student living here(i kinda have a problem) i've an idea,think both of us will be benifited i can't put it down here contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . i can help you out

cheers

jason

hey denise,

i work for maxxelli real estate in suzhou. we have relocated a lot of families in the suzhou area and in the 4 years i have been doing this i have come across the following situations:

- 2 Break ins - clients were not at home (the thief must have known that they were on holidays)

- 1 kidnapping of a chinese family's son. That was resolved the same afternoon.

compared to europe or the US i think suzhou is one of the safest places around.

If yo have any questions jsut let me know.

thx manuel


---Edit by Administrator &quot;No advertisment allowed&quot; ---<br><br>Post edited by: admin, at: 2008/03/24 19:08

Hi Denise,

It sounds like you are experiencing culture shock. I don't know what to tell you as to how to get over this. But I can tell you that staying inside will not make things better. Hanging around other expats who complain too much will also not make things better.

Suzhou is much safer than where I am from (the United States)... except for the trafic. People do not drive well here.

And yes, things may not be that sanitary...but at least most food is cooked with high-heat

It is likely someone was taking pictures of your kids because they think your kids are cute. Chinese people do that...alot. Its annoying, but you should try to have some understanding. Chinese are &quot;kid-crazy&quot;. They just love kids and they think foreign kids are very cute. I have not heard of any foreign kid being kidnapped anywhere in China EVER. I think it would be too easy to catch the kidnappers.

Af for your Ayi, well...tough luck. You should not get a fresh, new Ayi. You should get someone who is local, who is recomended. Yes you need to search and search. But that is just they way it is.

I wish you best of luck and greater peace of mind.